II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 77 

To amend the Clean Air Act to reduce pollution and lower costs for building 

owners. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 25 (legislative day, JANUARY 5), 2011 

Mrs. BOXER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Clean Air Act to reduce pollution and lower 

costs for building owners. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pollution and Costs 

5 Reduction Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) actions taken to reduce emissions of air pol9 lutants, as defined in section 302 of the Clean Air 

10 Act (42 U.S.C. 7602), will spur investments that 


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1 create new jobs and foster innovation and entrepre2 neurship in clean technology industries; and 

3 (2) according to the Environmental Protection 

4 Agency— 

5 (A) the average building wastes 30 percent 

6 of the energy consumed by the building because 

7 of inefficiency; and 

8 (B) the operating costs of the nearly 

9 5,000,000 buildings in the United States exceed 

10 $100,000,000,000 per year. 

11 SEC. 3. BUILDING POLLUTION REDUCTION PROGRAM. 

12 Section 105 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7405) 

13 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(f) BUILDING POLLUTION REDUCTION PROGRAM.— 

15 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

16 ‘‘(A) AIR POLLUTANT.—The term ‘air pol17 lutant’ has the meaning given the term in sec18 tion 302. 

19 ‘‘(B) EMISSIONS.—The term ‘emissions’ 

20 means— 

21 ‘‘(i) direct emissions of an air pollut22 ant from sources that are owned or con23 trolled by an owner of a building; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) indirect emissions of an air pol25 lutant resulting from the generation of 


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1 electricity, heat, or steam purchased by the 

2 owner of a building. 

3 ‘‘(2) PROGRAM.—The Administrator shall es4 tablish and carry out a program, to be known as the 

5 ‘Building Pollution Reduction Program’, to provide 

6 assistance to owners of buildings in the United 

7 States to reduce the emission of air pollutants and 

8 building operating costs by— 

9 ‘‘(A) constructing highly efficient buildings 

10 in the United States; or 

11 ‘‘(B) increasing the efficiency of and re12 ducing the emissions associated with existing 

13 buildings in the United States. 

14 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS.—The Administrator shall 

15 provide assistance under this section to owners of 

16 buildings in the United States based on the extent 

17 to which projects relating to the buildings of the 

18 owners result in verifiable, additional, and enforce19 able reductions in emissions of air pollutants 

20 through operational improvements such as— 

21 ‘‘(A) improved energy efficiency; 

22 ‘‘(B) increased water-use efficiency; 

23 ‘‘(C) use of renewable energy sources; and 

24 ‘‘(D) such additional measures, as deter25 mined by the Administrator, as will result in a 


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1 measurable decrease in emissions of air pollut2 ants. 

3 ‘‘(4) PRIORITY.—In providing assistance under 

4 this subsection, the Administrator shall give priority 

5 to projects that— 

6 ‘‘(A) achieve the following minimum scores 

7 as evaluated by energy performance bench8 marking tools— 

9 ‘‘(i) in new or renovated buildings 

10 that demonstrate exemplary performance 

11 by achieving— 

12 ‘‘(I) a minimum score of 75 on 

13 the benchmarking tool of the Energy 

14 Star program established by section 

15 324A of the Energy Policy and Con16 servation Act (42 U.S.C. 6294a); or 

17 ‘‘(II) an equivalent score on an 

18 established energy performance bench19 marking metric selected by the Ad20 ministrator, such as the metric used 

21 for the National Building Rating Pro22 gram of the Department of Energy; 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(ii) in retrofitted existing buildings 

25 that demonstrate— 


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1 ‘‘(I) substantial improvement in 

2 the score or rating on the bench3 marking tool described in clause (i) by 

4 a minimum of 30 points; or 

5 ‘‘(II) an equivalent improvement 

6 using an established performance 

7 benchmarking metric selected by the 

8 Administrator; 

9 ‘‘(B) are completed by building owners 

10 with a proven track record of reducing pollution 

11 through the measures described in paragraph 

12 (3); and 

13 ‘‘(C) result in measurable pollution reduc14 tion benefits not encompassed within the 

15 metrics of the Energy Star program described 

16 in subparagraph (A)(i)(I). 

17 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

18 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Ad19 ministrator to carry out this section such sums as 

20 are necessary for each of fiscal years 2012 through 

21 2016.’’. 

Æ 


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